[Flipside]

LOL

Betcha they'll do a Fable and not allow you to attack children though

As someone pushing 40 I should be one of the crowd finding the idea of putting children into a game involving sword-wielding maniacs as worrying, instead I find it somewhat lulzy.

Oh well, here's to refusing to grow up...

[iamzack]

I'm sure there'll be a mod somewhere to remove that check... maybe... :<

[Nemesis6]

LOL

Betcha they'll do a Fable and not allow you to attack children though

As someone pushing 40 I should be one of the crowd finding the idea of putting children into a game involving sword-wielding maniacs as worrying, instead I find it somewhat lulzy.

Oh well, here's to refusing to grow up...

Your post planted the seed in my mind that got me lolling in real life. I just pictured someone making a custom plotline that consists solely of running around and chopping up kids! 

Now, leak information of it to Fox News, and we'll all be finding out, at 11, whether or not computer games are turning our children into serial killers.

[Topgun]

The latest issue of Game Informer contains fresh gameplay details on Bethesda's next massive title, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, set for release this November.

Skyrm's story is set 200 years after the events of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and the world of Tamriel is in shambles. The empire has fallen to the elves, the Blades are gone, the Nords hate each other, and a civil war is about the break out. Oh, and that big dragon the Elder Scrolls prophesied about? Yeah, he's arrived, too. Players will take control of the last remaining Dragonborn, a dragon hunter anointed by the gods to help fend off the threat.

Bethesda's newest title features a brand-spanking new engine where every object in the game now casts a shadow as well as improved draw-distances. Textures are sharper and more detailed and the environments are livelier. There's also the addition of a HUD-less first-person view and "improved" third-person camera option.

There will be five massive cities that span Skyrim's environment, which ranges from frozen tundra to rocky mountain tops. There is also new wildlife, such as Sabre-toothed Cats and Wooly Mammoths.

The combat is getting a bit of an overhaul, too. Players will be able to equip any weapon or spell to either hand at any time and even duel wield two of the same weapon. A new customizable menu is being added to help swap load-outs easily in battle.

Bethesda has also done away with the character class system and reworked the game's leveling mechanic. Players' skills will level up the more they are used, contributing to your overall level growth. "Raising one skill from 34 to 35 is going to level you faster than raising one from 11 to 12," Bethesda designer Todd Howard told the magazine. Players can also level pass 50, but it becomes much slower after that point.

The team has also added Fallout 3's perk system, where each new level gained allows players to add special abilities to their character, including increase in damage to dagger stealth attacks or allowing your mace to ignore enemy armor.

Skyrim's NPC conversations are a lot more realistic. Aside from including even more voice actors, the AI-controlled characters will actually move about and continue on with the activities they were doing before being interrupted. Towns also include more activities to do, such farming, mining, woodcutting and cooking.

Bethesda also revamped the game's menu system. Howard said the team used Apple's iTunes as inspiration and direction. Players will be greeted with a compass-style overlay with four options: Skill, Inventory, Map, and Magic. Weapons and spells can be tagged as a 'favorite' for quick selection. Every item is a 3D object than can be viewed and examined.

Check out the latest issue of Game Informer for additional details.

Skyrim is set for release on November 11, 2011 for Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/114/1143498p1.html

[Scotty]

Bethesda's newest title features a brand-spanking new engine where every object in the game now casts a shadow as well as improved draw-distances. Textures are sharper and more detailed and the environments are livelier. There's also the addition of a HUD-less first-person view and "improved" third-person camera option.

Woot.

The combat is getting a bit of an overhaul, too. Players will be able to equip any weapon or spell to either hand at any time and even duel wield two of the same weapon. A new customizable menu is being added to help swap load-outs easily in battle.

Interesting, but I hope it doesn't go overboard somehow.

Bethesda has also done away with the character class system and reworked the game's leveling mechanic. Players' skills will level up the more they are used, contributing to your overall level growth. "Raising one skill from 34 to 35 is going to level you faster than raising one from 11 to 12," Bethesda designer Todd Howard told the magazine. Players can also level pass 50, but it becomes much slower after that point.

This makes me kinda nervous.  Probably could be better explained, but still.

Skyrim's NPC conversations are a lot more realistic. Aside from including even more voice actors, the AI-controlled characters will actually move about and continue on with the activities they were doing before being interrupted.

OH SWEET JESUS YES!

Towns also include more activities to do, such farming, mining, woodcutting and cooking.

Meh.  Minigames.

The team has also added Fallout 3's perk system, where each new level gained allows players to add special abilities to their character, including increase in damage to dagger stealth attacks or allowing your mace to ignore enemy armor.

I'm torn on this.  I absolutely love the perks in Fallout 3 and New Vegas, but I'm not sure if it'll be effective and fun to use in an Elder Scrolls game.  Will wait and see.  It has the potential to be either really, really awesome or really, really ****ty.

Every item is a 3D object than can be viewed and examined.

Minor yay.

[Zacam]

I didn't play Fallout 3 for more than a couple hours before quitting in disgust, so I know what you're saying.

That said, New Vegas was by the original Fallout developers and I'm tempted to give it a run.

Uhh... The Hell? Obsidian Entertainment didn't make Fallout, Black Isle did. And yes, SOME members of Black Isle (after the failing of Troika Games and being laid off by Interplay) did found Obsidian, they should not be confused with being one and the same.

(I can't even believe I'm posting here either, but that's neither here nor there) I look forward to a lot of Bethesda products, including this one. I won't hold my breath that it will be great, because I know it won't. I'm still waiting for them to release something that doesn't end up getting fixed by the community within it's first 72 hours of shelf life. And when _that_ happens, I want to say I was there for it.

[General Battuta]

Obsidian is pretty commonly agreed to have inherited all the great writing from Black Isle. I know this because I read aaaall about it on somethingawful!

[Topgun]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6286630.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=morenews&tag=morenews%3Btitle%3B6

Skyrim to include dev kit

[Topgun]

New art direction

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/01/26/the-art-of-skyrim.aspx

[Grizzly]

This actually seems genuinely exciting, a big depart from Oblivion's... ehrm... non-descreptive design principle.

[Flipside]

I'm quite interested in it, but it's still 10 months away, I seem to recall that 10 months before Fable 2 & 3 came out there was all this talk about stuff you could do which never made it into the final mix, so I'll wait and see what the difference is between what is promised and what is supplied

[Topgun]

I'm quite interested in it, but it's still 10 months away, I seem to recall that 10 months before Fable 2 & 3 came out there was all this talk about stuff you could do which never made it into the final mix, so I'll wait and see what the difference is between what is promised and what is supplied

except the fable devs are known for that, bethseda isn't.

[Flipside]

I seem to recall a great deal of the AI was dumbed down for Oblivion? Maybe I'm wrong, I can't say I followed the development of Oblivion all that closely, but I do seem to recall an awful lot of promises made about the AI which weren't really realised at release.

[NGTM-1R]

At least some of it had to be done deliberately, otherwise NPCs started stealing everything that wasn't nailed down and otherwise behaving like massive dicks/PCs.

[Flipside]

Heh

I suppose that as long as they can instill the idea that 'Swords are sharp, don't run in front of them when they are being swung around" into the AI, that in itself would be a Godsend

[Nemesis6]

We primarily look at how we can improve facial expressions and animations, graphics-wise,

and we want to make sure that the graphics of the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 are alike.

[General Battuta]

uh nemesis scroll up a bit

[Nemesis6]

Damn it, I fail! 

[General Battuta]

There was a link from there to an interview with their designer guy (Ron Howard?) that made him sound like not a total ass, maybe a pretty cool dude. WHO KNOWS

However everything that got me excited about Oblivion turned out to be a dirty lie so I will remain unenthused until at least 6 months after release.

[Turambar]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6286630.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=morenews&tag=morenews%3Btitle%3B6

Skyrim to include dev kit

Hooray!  If Shogun 2 has one, I'll have **** to do every day after work for the next year :-D

Damn, it won't.  Oh well, looks like Medieval 2 will stay on the hard drive.